Production assembly of threaded parts is facilitated by tools which apply torque to fasteners, and which also supply the fasteners. An example is the sequential setting of threaded collars to be tightened down onto a stud, a pin, or a bolt. A tool for such a purpose is shown in Bochman U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,491 issued Mar. 8, 1960. This tool has enjoyed a considerable acceptance in the trade, but accepts, and to a degree even exerts, a restraint on the design of the fastener which it drives. For example, it accepts and drives the fastener shown in George S. Wing U.S. Pat. No. 2,940,495 issued June 14, 1960. This fastener is sold by Hi-Shear Corporation of Torrance, Calif. under the trademark "Hi-Lok."
In this fastener, the driving surfaces which are engaged by the driving tool customarily have at least as large an envelope as the other sections of the fastener. This is because the walls of the driving section of the tool must both engage the driving surfaces of the fastener, and also pass the remainder of the fastener through it. This precludes having a driving section whose envelope is smaller than other portions of the fastener. As a consequence, excess material must be used to form part of the fastener, which in some fasteners is discarded anyway. When the fastener is made of expensive materials such as titanium, this constitutes a severe penalty for the use of an automatic tool.
It is an object of this invention to provide a tool which both feeds and drives a threaded fastener, and in which the surfaces used to drive the fastener can have a smaller envelope than another portion of the fastener, for example the collar which remains on the pin after driving. Then the tooling itself does not constitute a restraint on the design of the fastener.